Re: My opinion on Ubuntu cancelling Intel 80386/80386-clone processor support

[Ryan Cunningham]

> El sept 7, 2016, a las 4:17 AM, Simos Xenitellis <simos.li...@googlemail.com> 
> escribió:
> 
> On Wed, Sep 7, 2016 at 3:08 AM, Ryan Cunningham
> <levantamos.para.u...@gmail.com> wrote:
>> 
>> I have heard recently that Ubuntu has plans to cancel support for processors 
>> in the Intel 80386 family (and clones of the same). This is impacting me 
>> because I have a 32-bit Ubuntu machine (powered by an Intel 80586) which 
>> runs Ubuntu 16.10. This machine, a home laptop converted into a server, is 
>> only in the testing phase right now and probably will remain there for 6 
>> years at most. That is, until I obtain my bachelor's degree in 
>> elementary/high school education and my teaching certificate (I am going to 
>> use this machine for a school I will thereafter create).
> 
> Hi!
> First of all, regardless of all other decisions that be taken, you are
> fine with 16.04 at least until the year 2021.
> 
> I am not addressing your request, I am focusing on the practicalities
> of maintaining an old laptop as a server.
> I assume your laptop was made around the year 2000-2003 because the
> CPU is Intel 80586.

Sorry, I made a mistake: My computer’s CPU is actually an Intel 80686.

> [. . .]
> 
> You should get health metrics from this laptop in order to assess
> whether it can work reliably until 2021.
> Specifically,
> 
> A. Hard disk health status.
> 
> Install "smartnontools" (extract health data from inside the hard disk) with
> 
> sudo apt install smartmontools
> 
> Then, obtain the hard disk health status report by running
> 
> sudo smartctl -a /dev/hda
> 
> This command will read the internal attributes that are stored on the hard 
> disk.
> Among those attributes, the important ones are
> 1. Power_On_Hours (how many hours the hard disk was on, which
> coincides with the laptop being on).
> The "Raw Value" is the number of hours. The maximum I ever saw on a
> working disk was 1.
> I am really interested in seeing your value for this one.

“Smartctl open device: /dev/hda failed: No such device”

I’ve tried /dev/sda: By doing so, I get 6016 Power_On_Hours . . .

> 2. Reallocated_Sector_Ct (how many bad sectors have been reallocated
> to the buffer space).
> Here the Raw value should be 0.

. . . and a Reallocated_Sector_Ct of “0 (2000 0).”

> B. CPU Temperature
> 
> Install "lm-sensors" (read motherboard sensor values)
> 
> sudo apt install lm-sensors
> 
> Configure "lm-sensors"
> 
> sudo sensors-detect
> 
> (answer Yes to the autodetection).
> 
> Finally, read the current sensor values with
> 
> sensors
> 
> The temperatures when your laptop is idle, should be below 50C. If
> they are over 60C when idle, you have heating issues.

Mine is 38 deg. C right now.

> 
> Nowdays, instead of having an old laptop as a server, the common thing
> to do is get a Small Board Computer (SBC),
> like the Raspberry Pi. There are cheaper versions, and they start at
> around $15. You can get them to run Ubuntu just fine.
> 
> Hope this helps,
> Simos

Sincerely,

Ryan Cunningham


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My opinion on Ubuntu cancelling Intel 80386/80386-clone processor support

[Ryan Cunningham]

[The following message is a re-post from an aborted message thread originally 
sent to .]

Attn. Ubuntu Developers:

I have heard recently that Ubuntu has plans to cancel support for processors in 
the Intel 80386 family (and clones of the same). This is impacting me because I 
have a 32-bit Ubuntu machine (powered by an Intel 80586) which runs Ubuntu 
16.10. This machine, a home laptop converted into a server, is only in the 
testing phase right now and probably will remain there for 6 years at most. 
That is, until I obtain my bachelor's degree in elementary/high school 
education and my teaching certificate (I am going to use this machine for a 
school I will thereafter create).

Security updates for Ubuntu will be necessary for the proper functioning of my 
32-bit server. I therefore propose that you may want to relegate support for 
processors in the Intel 80386 family (and clones thereof) to the Ubuntu 
Community - like you did with support for Ubuntu on PowerPC processors years 
ago. This will be necessary for the proper functioning of Ubuntu on some old 
IBM PC–compatible computers (with an Intel 80586 or later processor) which no 
longer receive mainstream support from their original manufacturers.

Thank you for your cooperation.

Enviado desde mi iPod
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